Towards Better Computational Tools for Effective Environmental Policy Planning

Abstract

Effective environmental policies have to be based on robust information taking into consideration the existing trends. The objective of this paper is to facilitate data-driven decisions. Specifically we aim at policies that are built on officially reported emissions data making use of intuitive tools and interfaces to guide European air quality strategies with completeness and consistency. Transboundary (or cross-border) air pollution is a two-sided problem involving a polluter and a pollutee. The visualizations we have created allow a user to conceive the transboundary air pollution scheme from either the polluters’ or pollutees’ perspective. Based on the European Monitoring and Evaluation Program (EMEP) source-receptor matrices from 2003 to 2014, we develop comprehensive pollution monitoring systems. Our systems are created in visualization software in order to bring out the status, attributes and dynamics of transboundary air pollution. Our monitoring applications consist of different visualization modules. All of these modules carry their own information, which can be used separately or together to serve specific visualization tasks: either the polluters’ responsibility or the pollutees’ vulnerability. Several interactive interventions are integrated into each module to achieve particular visualization goals. Controls are added for the number of polluters, year of study, pollution level and geographical region within the extended EMEP area. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.